Bless You!
by millenniumthief
Summary: It's allergy season in Domino City, and Bakura's in denial. Too bad Ryou knows better! Complete.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-gi-oh!

A/N: The idea for this story came from a question I asked in Asiera's Yugioh You've Got Questions We've Got Answers. Thank you very much, Asiera!

This is done for fun only. It has no relevance to any plot whatsoever.

Bless You!

"Hah…Hahhh…"

'Bakura…? Are you alright?' Ryou asked from the back of Bakura's mind. The former thief currently was in possession of their body, Ryou not too bothered by letting him experience the world some. Right now, however, he wondered what was going on.

"Hahhh…Ahh…"

"What's wrong?! Are you hurt?" This was definitely something he wasn't used to, sounds like that coming from the spirit. Part of him wanted to find out what was happening, while another was afraid of what he might find. He decided to emerge as a spirit as Bakura had done so many times before, standing before his dark a little disoriented. He wasn't used to the sensation, yet.

"Ah…Ah…AHHH…CHOO!!" Bakura toppled backward from the force of his sneeze, landing painfully on his rear. He stood back up, looking around confusedly.

"Bless you, spirit!" Ryou chirruped happily, laughing just a little in amusement and a bit of relief. "But could you take it easy on my body, please? I live in it, too."

Bakura's forehead was furrowed in contemplation. "What the hell?" It seemed he was still trying to find some trigger for his action, and growled when he could find none.

Ryou was somewhat disappointed with the spirit's lack of communication, so he tried again. "Don't tell me you've never sneezed before!" That would have been impossible; even in Egypt, the hikari was fairly sure people reacted the same way as everyone else.

"Of course I have!" Bakura snapped, rubbing his nose to stop a curious itching sensation. "Just…not like _that_." Before he could say another word, another massive sneeze escaped him, sending him reeling again.

The hikari thought about what could have caused the thief such discomfort when he hit upon an idea. "Maybe you have allergies," he suggested. "It is that time of the year."

"Allergies? I do _not_ have allergies, and never have. Ever!" the spirit denied. However, he couldn't deny the sniffles that made themselves known after he had sneezed.

"Really?" Ryou didn't seem too convinced. "Well, maybe they're different kinds of allergies than what people would have had in your time." Bakura shot him a glare that clearly told him not to say any more on that subject, and Ryou obediently hushed, quietly holding back another wave of giggles in disbelief.

Still wearing his scowl, Bakura decided to reiterate what he had already said. "I am not sick. I don't _get_ sick!"

"Being sick and having allergies are really two different things, Yami," Ryou corrected, delighting in Bakura's sigh of irritation.

"Shut up, Ryou!" he snapped. The last thing he needed was a headache to go with these aller-, erm…temporary discomforts.

--

The next morning found a very disgruntled spirit inhabiting poor Ryou's body. His head was unbelievably foggy, and his congestion only worsened things. Being unaware of modern conveniences to help his symptoms, he resorted to sniffing as much as possible in hopes of clearing his sinuses. To Ryou's amusement, however, he still refused to admit there was anything wrong with him.

"Feeling better, my dark?" he asked appearing, goading the spirit into a not-so-kind response.

"Of course I'm not, you bloody dolt! Does it look like I-" A triumphant, "I-thought-you-weren't-sick" look from Ryou caused the spirit to realize what he had been shouting and he cut himself off immediately. "I'm fine! Stop staring at me!"

Another loud sniff caused Ryou to flinch. Knowing his luck, Bakura would cause a sinus infection and leave his defenseless hikari to deal with it. He decided to take matters into his own hands. "Haven't you heard of tissues in all the time you've been here?" he wondered.

"No, I haven't. Leave me alone…" Bakura groaned back, desperate for some silence for his aching head, but it didn't appear as though his lighter half would budge on the subject, as he simply folded his arms and stared until his yami asked, "What?"

"If you're going to live in my body, you should learn some more things about the world you're living in! If you keep sniffing, you're going to end up in a lot of trouble…That's what the tissues are for!" Ryou explained, walking over to one of the cabinets in the kitchen and pointing at it, waiting for Bakura to drag himself over and open it. After waiting for a while with no result except for another glare, Ryou smiled innocently. "If there's nothing wrong with you, you should have been here a minute ago…"

Sighing, Bakura forced himself to open the cabinet. Ryou motioned toward a rectangular box and the spirit grabbed it. "This…helps the sniffing…?" he muttered incredulously, completely confused about how it would help his nose any.

"See the paper in the box? Take one out." Bakura complied, jerking one out of the box and causing it to rip. Bakura smirked at the destruction until he saw Ryou's less-than-amused glare at his antics and he pulled out another, more gently this time. "Now, hold it like this," he said, mimicking the action of holding it over his nose, "and breathe out."

Bakura did as Ryou said, exhaling through his nose as forcefully as he could, and it didn't seem as though anything happened, but suddenly the thief went very still with a slightly startled expression shadowing his eyes.

"Spirit…? Is something the matter?"

"…I think I just broke my ear…" he replied in a very distant, but calm, practiced voice. Ryou's eyes shot open at Bakura's words and he panicked slightly.

"Broke your ear?! _MY ear_…?" the hikari asked in disbelief. "What do you mean, 'broke'?"

Bakura shook his head as though unable to figure out how to describe the sensation he had experienced. "I tried to do what you said, and there was a loud pop, and now I can't hear anything in it."

For the second time in as many days, Ryou was relieved almost beyond words. "Oh, that…that's normal!" he assured the thief, as Bakura stared at him with a look that plainly said he thought the boy was crazy. "I'm serious," the hikari insisted. "It's just built-up pressure."

Bakura's very slow nod followed Ryou's words, indicating he really had no idea what his hikari was trying to say, but was going along with it anyway. A sudden ringing interrupted any further explanation, and Bakura suddenly found himself forcibly kicked out of Ryou's body. Staring in astonishment, he watched as his light smiled apologetically and picked up the phone.

"Hello? …Yes, this is Ryou Bakura…" Bakura watched the one-sided conversation, wondering who could be on the other end of the line. "Oh, yes, I'm sure he wouldn't mind at all. You're very welcome here…Alright; I'll be there to pick you up tomorrow! Bye!" Ryou placed the receiver down and looked very pointedly at his yami.

"Who was that?" Bakura demanded, knowing that the "he" in the conversation had been referring to him.

"That was Malik." The spirit's eyes bulged a little at the words. "Ishizu has been invited to give a presentation about the Egyptian exhibit at the museum, so I'm letting Malik stay here with us."

It was quite apparent Bakura wasn't happy about this in the least. "Why can't he stay with Ishizu in some fancy hotel like they always give special guests?"

"She'll be sharing the room with a colleague; there won't be any room for him," Ryou stated, and then his eyes widened as he determined what the spirit might be worried about. "Ohh…don't worry! I'm sure he's forgiven you for the Battle City incident."

"So I just have to worry about him coming here and seeing me like this," the thief muttered under his breath. "Isn't that just lovely."

Something about his tone told Ryou he really wasn't supposed to overhear what Bakura had said, but he couldn't resist commenting on it. "See you like what, spirit? I thought you were perfectly fine…"

The spirit's jaw clenched ever so slightly as he fought back the urge to hit something, not that it would have been very effective in his current state, and he ended up snarling, "I am! Fine, pick him up and bring him home. Just don't expect me to be too friendly toward him while he's here…"

To be continued…?

A/N: It's so fun to just write something goofy once in a while! ^^' Please review and tell me what you thought. I'll continue it if you want me to, but it might be a little while before anything is posted…College is being mean.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Bakura groaned as the ringing of Ryou's alarm clock echoed through every corner of his skull, and he stuffed his pillow over his ears, trying to fall back asleep. His head was pounding, and he felt like something had battered him as he slept that night. He would have given anything to just lie in bed, especially once Ryou remind him of what they had to do that day.

'Hey, Bakura! Wake up; we have to get Malik from the airport today!' he said in the back of the disgruntled spirit's mind.

"Do we 'have' to…?" he moaned back, his voice raspy. Sensing Ryou's less than enthusiastic emotions at his reply, he slowly dragged himself over to the alarm, shutting it off none-too-gently with his fist. Amazingly, it survived the assault, though it would be permanently dented for the rest of its existence.

Bakura stared balefully into the mirror as he tried to get the worst of the tangles out of his wild hair. The person staring back was nothing like he was used to. Sharp features were dulled and tired circles lingered under his eyes. Today would not be fun…eventually, he gave up on his hair and threw the brush down, making his way out of the apartment.

"Hikari, how are we getting there?" the thief asked.

'We're taking the bus. It's easier than trying to find our way there." Sighing, Bakura sat down on the bench around the corner from Ryou's home and waited. The bus came around every fifteen minutes, so the spirit didn't have to wait long, and once he was on it, he crashed into a seat and rested his head on the window. He didn't even realize he had dozed off until something jabbed him hard in the ribs.

"Hey, mister…you alive?" a small, annoyingly high-pitched voice said.

"He looks dead to me. Even his hair's white, and he doesn't look that old!" concluded another.

Another poke in the side sent Bakura bolting upright and snarling, causing the two boys that were bothering him scurrying away, but only temporarily. They crept up towards him again.

"Mister, why's your hair white if you aren't dead? Are you a zombie…?" the first wondered.

"With the way he looks, it wouldn't surprise me," said the other.

Bakura glared with all the malice he could muster and growled again. "My hair is this color naturally. I am not a zombie, but if you continue to bother me, I might be tempted to kill you!"

That made the two flee, squealing all the way as they ran to the front of the bus to escape at the next stop.

'Spirit, that wasn't very nice,' Ryou chastised, disappointment emanating from his thoughts.

Bakura scoffed. 'They were bothering me. Why couldn't they have just left me alone? Then they wouldn't have had to worry about anything.'

Ryou just sighed and remained silent, while Bakura leaned against the window again and drifted off again.

--

Once they had arrived at the airport, the spirit paced impatiently up and down the aisles in the terminal, waiting for the plane from Egypt to arrive. Even with his body stiff and sore, Bakura couldn't sit still. The people he would have been next to kept throwing him sympathetic looks every time he sniffed or coughed, and if there was one thing he didn't need, it was pity. Finally, he heard what he wanted:

"Flight 1165 is now arriving from Cairo."

The thief watched the people departing from the plane and eventually saw a flaxen blonde mess of hair bobbing through the crowd. He couldn't help sniffing again, partly due to allergies and somewhat in disdain. Sooner than he'd hoped, the young Egyptian man was standing in front of him, dragging a heavy suitcase.

"Hello, Ryou! I know you missed me, but that's no reason to cry!" he said happily, eager to see the white-haired boy.

"I'm not Ryou," the thief grumbled, "and I'm not crying…"

Malik's eyes went wide. "Really? Bakura…um, don't get mad, but if you aren't crying, what's on your cheek?"

Bakura glared before raising the back of his hand to wipe at his cheek. Sure enough, when he pulled it away it was wet. "What the…?" He gaped in bewilderment at the water drop on his skin, knowing there was no reason for it to be there. "How?"

Ryou chuckled in his mind. 'It's a side effect of allergies. They make your eyes water.'

"Are you sick, tomb robber?" Malik asked, unable to believe how miserable the thief appeared.

"Of course I'm not sick! It's…" Bakura hesitated for a moment, deciding there was no point in denying the obvious anymore. "It's allergies…"

Malik looked like his birthday had come early. It seemed the saying was right: Karma did suck! That was better than anything Malik could have possibly planned for his stay there. He didn't even have to do anything, and Bakura was already frayed and irritated. What luck!

"Don't give me that look," the thief snapped. "Say a single word and your stay here will be far less than enjoyable."

The tanned Egyptian contemplated that for a little bit. Ishizu had told him to behave before crawling in the car that would take her to the museum, but he didn't think she had taken something as monumental as this into consideration. But, Ryou was offering him a place to stay, and without it, he would have had to stay home.

"Alright…" he mumbled. "I'll be good."

"That's a very wise decision on your part," Bakura sneered, and then turned around and start walking. Malik, being temporarily surprised, had to jog a little to catch up.

"Where are you going?" he yelped.

Bakura didn't slow down any, but shouted over his shoulder, "The bus. That's how we're getting home."

Malik remained at Bakura's side in case the tomb-robber wanted to say anything else, but he seemed somewhat subdued and didn't say another word during the entire walk to the bus terminal. Once again, Bakura crashed against the side of the bus as soon as he collapsed into the seat. Malik couldn't hold in his chuckle, but he was lucky the thief was too far gone to notice.

The tomb-keeper couldn't believe he was back in Domino again, and he sat watching the familiar scenery go by. Every time the bus stopped, he would twist and turn, trying to see everything around him.

'Bakura, you're going to miss our stop,' Ryou warned, as Bakura slipped in and out of his slumber.

"Mmm…okay…" Bakura moaned, rousing himself and catching their stop just in time. He shoved Malik out of the seat to get him moving and followed suit. Bakura then lead Malik to his new home for the next couple of days. Pushing open the door, he let Malik enter first, muttering, "Welcome home," in the most sarcastic tone he could manage. The tanned boy smirked, throwing down his luggage and falling into a sofa.

"Thanks," he replied in the same voice, and smiled. This was going to be such a fun trip…

--

Thanks to all my reviewers from last chapter! Random trivia: Malik's birthday is December 23, if I remember correctly. I hope you liked this one, but next chapter will be the fun one, because Malik is out for a little bit of payback for battle city.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: As I didn't do this last time, another big thank you to Asiera, mystic48138, Holy Metal Muffin of Death, LeaMarie F. Metallium, Journey Maker, Grass stained Umbrella, AnimeLoverAngel, Vaseshipper, and –PsyhoBunny- for your reviews!

Chapter 3

Malik sat reclining on Ryou's sofa for a while, the whole time wondering what he could do to best get under Bakura's skin. It wasn't until his stomach growled that he struck upon an idea.

"Tomb-robber, I'm hungry," he complained.

Bakura stirred in the armchair he was resting in and sighed. "If you want something to eat, you're making it," he said, settling back down again.

Malik shrugged and made his way to the kitchen. "What do you have to eat?" he shouted.

"Pick something!" the spirit yelled back, coughing slightly when the action irritated his throat.

The Egyptian rummaged through the cabinets, making as much noise as possible to further worsen Bakura's migraine. Each time he finished with a drawer, he let it slam shut, and every crash caused Bakura to cringe.

"Break anything and you'll have Ryou to answer to!" he yelled again.

Malik snickered to himself, causing one final crash as he grabbed a flat skillet. He then took a slice of cheese, some bread, and a spatula and went to work on the stove. Fairly quickly, the smell of toasted bread and melted cheese filled the apartment, and Malik sauntered back into the front room with his grilled cheese sandwich.

"Mmm…this smells good, doesn't it, Bakura?" he asked, eyes glowing at his meal.

Bakura sniffed pitifully and glared, unable to catch the scent of the sandwich. Not that he was particularly hungry, but the snack looked so good…

He watched as Malik took a bite of his sandwich and licked his lips. "Ah, it tastes just as great, too!" he sighed. Finally, the thief couldn't take anymore; he wrenched himself up off the chair and stumbled to his room, curling up under the warm covers.

Malik chuckled again as Bakura left, congratulating himself on having the upper hand. He had known the tomb-robber to be irritable when they were stuck in Ryou's body together, but this was just comical. He needed to loosen up a little bit!

Malik took just a little longer to finish his meal and waited a while before following the other boy. Deep down, he knew he shouldn't be so mean, but where was the fun in that? Besides, he could always work being annoying another way by being nice…and shifting the blame. A new plan set, Malik soon arrived in Bakura's bedroom.

"Hey, Bakura…wake up! Hey…" he whispered, shaking the napping spirit gently. Closed eyes opened to dark slits and Malik tried again. "Um, I really shouldn't have done that to you. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

Bakura rolled his eyes, even though he knew Malik couldn't see it. "Yeah, you can leave me alone," he suggested.

Malik acted as though the spirit had hurt him with his words and tried the sympathetic approach. "You might not believe it, but I know how you're feeling."

"And how is that? You've probably never had allergies in your life! So go away…" Bakura growled, his voice growing hoarser by the minute. He was fairly certain he would lose it soon.

Malik scoffed. "Did you hear me during Battle City? I had them so bad I could hardly breathe!"

"So what happened to them? Why don't you have them now?" the thief wheezed, unknowingly taking the other's bait.

The Egyptian's eyes widened in mock surprise. "You mean Ryou didn't tell you?" he gasped.

"Tell me what?! Ryou…?"

Hiding within the Millennium Ring, the addressed boy cringed, but relaxed as Bakura didn't push the issue and instead turned to Malik for the answer.

"Before I got here, Ishizu bought some medicine that helps with my allergies…I can't believe Ryou didn't do the same for you…" he replied, feigning innocence. "You know what? While you talk with your hikari, I'll go out and get you some medicine, alright?" Bakura nodded angrily and called Ryou out to "talk." Once the conversation was started, Malik slid carefully off the bed. Once he had escaped the apartment, he shook his head. "Fool…" he muttered, and burst out in hysterical giggles.

"Hikari, why didn't I ever hear about this so-called 'medicine'?" Bakura asked, a dangerous edge to his raspy voice.

"Um…well…" Ryou stuttered. He couldn't quite get his brain to process the excuse he was trying to come up with.

"Yes?" the thief prompted impatiently.

Ryou fidgeted in front of Bakura's unyielding gaze. Even sick, he was still a dominating presence! "I wasn't really sure how it would affect you, and it's really better to just let it go away on its own…"

"Don't you think I should have at least heard about it and decided for myself if I wanted to try some of it?" Bakura reasoned.

"Well, I did tell you to pay more attention to the world around you. I really don't see how this is all my fault…" the British boy objected.

"Did you _want_ to see me suffering…?" At Ryou's silence, the spirit glared even more. "You did, didn't you?!"

"No, not 'suffer' exactly; just learn a little lesson…"

Bakura's jaw dropped as he regarded his defiant light. He quickly regained his composure and snapped.

"Ryou! You have a whole lot of explaining to do!"

"Eek!"

--

Malik slowly worked his way through the aisles at the pharmacy, picking up different medicines and placing them back once he determined if they were what he was looking for. Finally, he found the liquid medicine. He grabbed one, checking to see if it took care of allergies, or at least some of the symptoms. He then examined a few others before taking them up to the front counter to ask which one was best.

"Excuse me, could you help me with these?" he asked the cashier.

The cashier looked at the cache of bottles before her and then back at the Egyptian. "What do you need to know?"

"Which of these would be best for allergies?"

The young woman picked out two of the bottles, one with purple syrup and the other with a shining crimson liquid. "These are the ones specifically for allergy symptoms. They have pretty much the same active ingredients and should help significantly. There's really no difference which one you choose."

Malik considered that for a bit before asking, "Which one tastes better?"

The cashier held up the bottle filled with the purple medicine. "It's grape flavored," she explained.

"Ohh, alright. I'll take that one then," he said pointing to the other bottle, causing the cashier to look as though she clearly thought the boy had lost it. "My sister always says the worse it tastes, the better it is for you," he covered. Pulling out some change, he paid for the medicine and left before the woman could say anything else.

Once he was back at Ryou's home, he entered the tomb-robber's bedroom to find an extremely disgruntled Bakura lying with his back against the head board, staring into empty space. He uncapped the bottle, poured some into the measuring cup and held it out for Bakura to take. "Just swallow it," he ordered.

Bakura carefully took the tiny cup and drained it in a single gulp, gasping slightly as it went down and nearly choking. "What was that?!" he forced out. It burned like alcohol on the way down, but didn't taste good at all!

Malik laughed until he couldn't stand anymore and collapsed onto the edge of the bed trying to catch his breath. "That was medicine!" he replied, still snickering. "It's not supposed to taste pleasant!"

"You knew that and didn't warn me? You're even worse than Ryou!"

"Of course I am; Ryou wouldn't hurt a fly!" Malik didn't seem to realize the danger he was in until a swift smack in the back of the head caused him to look up. Bakura was leaning over him, eyes blazing and teeth bared.

"Get out of my apartment."

Malik cocked his head to the side in a silent question.

"You heard me. Get out, _now._"

Pulling away, Malik appeared to be sad, but a sarcastic smile snuck onto his features as he left. 'Oh well,' he thought, 'it was worth it!'

Bakura once again burrowed under his blankets, waiting for the medicine to take effect. After that, he would be perfectly fine.

--

"What do you mean he kicked you out?"

Malik shuffled his feet as he explained the situation to his older sister. "He had allergies, and I couldn't resist giving him a bad time!"

Ishizu sighed, holding her head while she tried to figure out what to do with her brother. "I thought you were going to try to get along with the spirit of the ring…"

Letting out a small sigh, he chuckled. "After that, I don't think it's ever going to happen…"

The End

A/N: After receiving a 95% on my Composition I essay for the second time in a row, I was inspired to write! That and there's nothing better to think about during math…Yay, probability!  
-.-'

Thank you to everyone who has read this far; you have no idea how much it means to me! I hope it wasn't too bad. What's really sad is that I started out planning for it to be a one chapter one-shot! Please review and I'll see you later!


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